Behold Bohol: La Manok to Anda

By Elie - 7:00 AM

I had initially planned for this to be written together with my previous talk of the Abatan River cruise but having to cover 2 villages and the cruise all at once had made the post seem extra long, thus an extra piece was born! If you've read the previous post, what followed the cruise was a visit to an island called La Manok Island before we were to rest over the white sandy beach of Anda; both of which I will speak of today.

The Past

Placed away from beach at Anda, La Manok Island is also known as The Witch's Island over the kind of history it holds. It took us a great half hour to arrive by a boat and it took almost an hour before we left the shores because the waves were too great to begin with. The sea at Anda Beach was definitely not quite a child's play as it did get fairly rough at a point but it was otherwise a great ride anyway.

Riding the waves...or so I thought.

Hello, La Manok!

The one tip you would absolutely need is that you should never leave the hotel without sunglasses if you're headed out to ANYWHERE in the Philippines. Trust me, your sunglasses are God sent regardless where you visit.

Being brought in by hand as we arrive. They literally pulled the boat in.

We did however notice that there were a number of damaged corals at the bottom of our boat and there was the unmistakable sound of scrapes over the corals courtesy of our boat as well. I do hope they will find a better way in bringing in guests to La Manok Island as opposed to hurting the corals that are already difficult to find as is.

Can someone tell me what this creepy crawly is?

Bone fragments from the boat burial area.

Our tour guide giving us a good run down of what we were looking at.

Touring this island brought us to a different end of Bohol, a sense of unmistakable eeriness crawling through. While it is supposed to be somewhere rich in history and a sense of nature's everything, I didn't quite enjoy myself as I thought I would. It also did not help that I was wearing slippers that were made specifically for the beach and not these hard stone walks but I find it impossible for you to wear sneakers either because they could get wet over the walk from the boat to the island. My tip is to wear comfortably thick-soled slippers.

Their resting hut.

Writing from thousands of years back.

Alongside red hematite painting.

If you are indeed a history buff, La Manok Island is one tour you should take on but if you're like myself and not too big on it, it could get pretty boring. That said, it does flourish you with just enough enjoyment to go with it but nothing particularly stands out as history unless you are indeed into such wonders of nature. I did find them interesting at first but tuned out later on.

Happily headed to the graveyard.

Picture under the red hematite paintings, excuse my face.

Alongside the friendliest tour guide ever from Angels' Wings. His name is Eric.

The girls of the trip. We missed out on Kittie who was in the toilet.

We took a different route to return to Anda Beach and it was good to know there was indeed a different way. It did however include a good dose of walking but in order to save the corals, hike we shall!

Sharing a kayak with Ashman who took this shot for me.

Walking through a bamboo bridge. It was extremely shaky and very scary.

If you notice, Ashman helped take my green towel as I balanced my way out.

It was however, undeniably pretty for photos. Syahir's in the background so say hello!

A van had waited for us at the end of this seemingly endless bridge and we were ferried right back to the Anda Beach where we anticipated for a sunset...that we unfortunately couldn't catch as much as we wanted to.

The Beach

Alas, we have arrived to my favourite part of the entire tour. Welcome to Anda Beach, everyone.

This isn't off Google, I swear.

Basking within the white sands and the clear blue skies alongside that beautifully clean sea is this island that just stands as is. And I was absolutely amazed.

The sand was soft and really clean, I can't even tell you how much I loved it.

But I can share with you how clear the waters are.

And you can also spot starfishes in the sea. This was taken from above the waters so it should really tell you how clear the sea was.

You could hardly spot rubbish on the beach as you would back at home *coughs* and the waves were funny enough, not as strong as we had expected it to be. So what could you do besides put yourselves in the mood for pictures in this amazing land? Warning: Everything below is pretty much me, me and more of me with the people from the trip.

Where there is a beach, there is me in this pose.

And just as the moon came up, I got this too!

Meet Jacky, my roommate for 2 nights.

Meet Illa, the one who jumps real high.

Meet Taufulou: Ah Bok.

Meet me. Duh.

Meet us and our jump shots!

Yes, I have gotten so horribly fat that you can see it in all its glory in my pictures but that's fine. I'll work something out. The beach was indeed the highlight of the entire trip but having to drive 2 hours from Panglao Island to Anda Beach does feel a little far fetched. However if you happen to be staying around the area of Bacong Sitio Dagahoy Anda, then you just cannot miss this beach. It's by far the prettiest one I've seen in my entire life.

Disclaimer: This has been a trip graciously sponsored by AirAsia and the supporting parties on hotels, tour services and visitation fees in the Philippines. Much thanks shall be given to AirAsia MY and AirAsia PH as well as the F1 Hotel Manila, South Palms Resort Panglao, Angels' Wings Tours and Tourism Bohol for the gracious 4 days 3 night AirAsia Media Familiarization Trip.